Can you see them? I finally figured out how to enlarge the detail and now I can show you the animals in the field across the road.

We see deer there nearly every day. Every delivery person who comes comments on seeing them there. And I often see cars stopping just in front of our place and backing up a bit to get a better look.

They are such gorgeous creatures and I never tire of seeing them or admiring their beauty.

P.S. Do you mind that I cheated a bit and took this picture this morning?

An e-mail invitation has me thinking about getting a group together this weekend and going sleigh riding. There’s more than one place within 20 minutes of our house where we could do this, but one of my favorites is the Sugar Moon Farm.

Husband and wife team, Scott Whitelaw and Quita Grey have a thriving maple syrup business in the Cobequid Mountains in Earltown NS. They use these gorgeous draught horses in the sugaring work and in winter, before the sap starts to run, for sleigh rides through the woods. There are also hiking trails for snowshoeing and crosscountry skiing.

We often take friends to the “sugar shack” for breakfast, and sometimes go, just us, if we have a weekend morning available.

In the city, one can just keep warm in winter, at a movie theater or a bowling alley or a mall. Those venues are at least an hour’s drive from here.

Want to sleigh ride, snowshoe, or hike in the beautiful outdoors? No problem. This is the sort of winter activity that is often easily available in the country.

What about you? What kind of winter activity do you enjoy: city or country?

Disclaimer: I am NOT an affiliate of Sugar Moon Farms nor am I in any way compensated by them. I received an e-mail about the sleigh rides from them today and decided to share because I simply love the place!

Technorati Tags: Sugar Moon Farm, draught horses, draft horses, maple sugaring, sugar shack, maple syrup, sleigh rides, all-you-can-eat pancakes, Chef’s night, hiking trail, Nuttby Mountain, Earltown NS, Rogart Mountain Trail

Busy couple of days and so I didn’t get this posted on Friday. But I didn’t want to miss showing you the colors.

The rain on Friday was soft, almost a mist, and what little wind there was was not from the north. The day was almost warm.

The wet had saturated the grasses in the field and on the lawn, bringing out the jewel tones in this bit of creation.

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It’s been a bonus week of lovely (almost) mild & sunny weather and the weather office promises a couple of more days like this. We’re enjoying while we can.

The lovely golden leaves on the alder are all gone, so I’m focusing this week on the field across the road.

The white dot on the far side of the field is one of my cats hunting mice. Hunters shot a deer in the woods there last week - way, way not far enough away from the road and houses.

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The headlines here are exclaiming over the coyote attack earlier this week, when a young woman visitor from Toronto was killed by two rogue males while she was on a hiking trail in Cape Breton. Read the rest of this entry »

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Bill’s daughter, Laura, has arrived from Vancouver with her 16-month-old son for an extended visit. Of course, we love having them here, but for me, there is an added bonus: the country through a city person’s fresh eyes & ears.

One of our first crisis arose this morning. I heard out of my bedroom window that overlooks the side deck: “Come in here! Get those bugs off you!” with a touch of panic. Worried that we had an infestation of late mosquitoes or spiders, I peered out to find my window screen dotted with the culprits: ladybugs.

Photo via “How to Start a Ladybug Garden”

During the night, Read the rest of this entry »

When you live in an old country house, you have to come to terms with dealing with wildlife of many sorts. One of the most common is the tiny mouse who is scurrying this time of year to find a warm place for a winter nest.

So I wasn’t totally unprepared to open the door this morning to see what the dog was barking at, to find a wee mousie cowering in the corner of the deck against the door jamb. Read the rest of this entry »

We had a weekend obligation in Summerside PEI, so we drove the two hours to Confederation Bridge which connects the island of Green Gable fame to the Canadian mainland.

The bridge is 12.9 kilometers (8 miles) long & Read the rest of this entry »

Our property is 2.5 acres, the back one-quarter of which is a swampy area with a “creek”, the foundation of the old barn, and scrubby trees & burdocks. But, near the edge of this bramble lie some wild blackberry bushes.

The berries ripen in late August and so last week we picked a bunch and, Read the rest of this entry »

Hurricane Bill is barreling up the Atlantic coastline and due to brush Nova Scotia tomorrow. It is, of course, the talk of the town.

The year we moved here (2003) was the first year in a very long time that Nova Scotia had been affected by a hurricane to any extent. But that September, Hurricane Juan Read the rest of this entry »

One of the most rewarding ways to use your larger outdoor living space in the country is to gather your family members for a reunion. Perhaps it’s a small group that gets together annually, or a large one whose far-flung members attend every two or five or even 10 years.

Whether large or small, a reunion is a wonderful opportunity to knit families closer together through shared stories. In the much-underrated 1990 film Avalon, a Russian immigrant to 1940s America relates the disintegration of his family ties. In his young manhood, his children gathered at the feet of older relatives during family gatherings and listened to tales of their heritage and history. As television took hold of society in the late ’50s, children and adults alike opted for the entertainment of television personalities, instead of the stories of their roots.

And just as the art of listening to stories has gone by the wayside, so has the art of telling them. Here’s how to re-start a tradition of storytelling at your family reunion. Read the rest of this entry »

There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.
(Henry James)

Country living usually offers outdoor living spaces that can be put to many different uses, including parties.

Perhaps nothing says “garden party” like having afternoon tea outdoors. It’s a charming reminder of bygone days and childhood make-believe. Outdoor spaces of all kinds (including balconies if you’re stuck in the city) can be successfully adapted to a tea party.

Tea parties span generations and will be enjoyed by your most sophisticated women friends or all the giggling little girls of your acquaintance.

What makes an elegant tea party? Read the rest of this entry »

Hilary Clinton’s now-famous quote — “I believe in a zone of privacy” — made at a press conference to promote her 2003 memoir, Living History, referred to the media’s exposure of public figures.

But in the country, privacy is about your neighbors. Our nearest visible neighbor is across a field about 150 yards from our house. We lost a couple of trees in Hurricane Juan (2004) and Read the rest of this entry »

Part of rural living, especially in more remote areas, is the simplification of your approach to life. Living so close to the natural world–hanging out clothes on the line, growing your own vegetables, watching the deer in the fields–makes you aware of things that are not real.

Take toys, for example. Read the rest of this entry »

I missed National Hang Out Day this year (April 19th) because I was sick. No, I wouldn’t have been hanging out with my girlfriends or hanging around the local mall.

National Hang Out Day is an effort supported by Project Laundry List to promote cheap, low-tech, easy to install solar dryers - that is, hanging out laundry to line dry.

You may not like the idea of seeing your neighbors’ undies flapping in the breeze. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the bonuses of our rural community is that it is on the Atlantic coast. (In Nova Scotia most of us are not far from the ocean. The province is very nearly an island.)

The government of Nova Scotia limits the fishing seasons and rotates them throughout the various areas of the province. Although lobster is being fished throughout the summer, the fisherman in our area have only May & June to haul them in. So lobster season is here on the North Shore! Read the rest of this entry »

On a quick run to the village today, I saw two separate groups of deer - perhaps two dozen in all. This time of year, they are seen frequently, foraging in the open as the weather improves & the supply of food in the woodland is exhausted from winter feeding.

I still get a little thrill each time I see these graceful creatures. We sometimes spot them in the open field across the road from the house, or in the hay field out beyond the back of our property. They don’t come near our house too much - I think the scent & sound of the dogs keeps them away. So I don’t have to worry about losing my garden to these ruminants.

Others aren’t so lucky. Read the rest of this entry »

In the cities of the northern hemisphere, early April’s milder weather often brings an end to wearing boots - especially for adults who won’t be playing in the mud.

I remember that I couldn’t wait to get out of winter footwear & place my daintily shod feet in new spring shoes directly on dry pavement. Or wet pavement, for that matter. It hardly made a difference unless there was snow - and it was actually accumulating. Oh, I suppose there might be a few who still actually wear town bootswith the stiletto heel & fine leather uppers.

Spring footwear in the country, though, is a different game altogether. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night we were storm-stayed again–for the third time this month. Isn’t that a charming term? We’re made to stay inside by the storm.

In actual fact, all the doors are snowed in at least knee high and the path to the car is drifted to my chest. (If, indeed, the car is out there – we can’t see any sign of it anymore.) So storm-stayed we are.

All of our friends in urban, commerce-driven Read the rest of this entry »